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Scandal: Is There More to Huck and Quinn's Relationship?

Forget Olitz! Huckleberry Quinn has become one of the most beloved relationships on Scandal. But that all changed last week when Huck (Guillermo Diaz) tortured his protégée Quinn (Katie Lowes). Can their relationship ever be fixed? Maybe, if Quinn shows her true allegiance to OPA by killing Rowan (Joe Morton) as she planned to do at the close of the episode. TVGuide.com turned to Diaz and Lowes to get the scoop on the midseason finale and whether there's actually more to Huck and Quinn's relationship than just being fellow Gladiators and torture aficionados:

What was it like shooting the torture scene? Guillermo Diaz: Oh my God! It was exciting and scary and weird and strange all at the same time. It was exhilarating. We really didn't have that much time to think about it too much. We talk so fast on the show and during that scene, we're just talking a mile a minute. Well, I was doing most of the talking, but it almost felt like we were doing a play. It felt that real. The fact that we really are close with each other outside of the show and really know each other made us take those extra little risks during shooting that and feeling really comfortable being up close on each other. I was straddling Katie at one point and grabbing her face and touching her teeth. It all felt oddly comfortable. That shows in the scene. Katie Lowes: When we read the script that Quinn walks into the apartment and she sees the tarp and the tools, I never thought he was actually going to go through with it. For a week, I was able to get a couple hours of going to scare the crap out of her, but he's not going to do it. Cut to the next table read, literally the first page, and I'm just hysterical crying and Guillermo is crying and we can't believe that the writers have again crossed any line that we've set up for them in our minds. That's why they're so great.

How does their relationship change now following this torture? Lowes: In this Thursday's episode, we do have a scene together that shows how they are to each other post-torture and how they feel with each other now and where they both stand in their relationship. It's super intense.

Do you think there is more going on between Quinn and Huck? Lowes: A lot of people ask us that on Twitter and strangers on the street. There are a lot of people who want to see Quinn and Huck together. Guillermo and I feel like it's more interesting that they're not. We love their mentor-mentee relationship, but now that their relationship has basically gone to hell — and we can't say hell and back — I don't know if that will ever be in the Huckleberry Quinn future that it will ever turn sexual. Diaz: I think it's more interesting that they're not romantically involved. Lowes: But I also feel like that whatever Shonda [Rhimes] and the writers writer for them will be brilliant and we're game for anything. It's not for no reason. I definitely think that Huck and Quinn going through that torture thing, as messed up as that was, there were some sexual elements in it. There's no way you can be naked and duct-taped on the floor and have your face licked and have it be a mix of a bunch of things, including that it was sexual, vulnerable, messed-up and weird. We hit all the colors of the rainbow, I feel like. Now, they almost feel closer to me than they've ever been because they went through that together.

Do you think Huck would kill Charlie (George Newbern) for turning Quinn into a traitor? Diaz: Who's to say Charlie won't be gunning for Huck as well? If Huck ever finds out that Quinn and Charlie hooked up, what a showdown that's going to be!

Quinn is planning to kill Rowan, so what can you tease for what's in store? Lowes: That Quinn versus Rowan moment at the end, we will get into all of that and where Quinn's loyalty really lies. Is she working for herself? Is she working for Charlie? Is she working for Huck and Olivia (Kerry Washington)? What the hell is she doing? All of that will be answered very early on in the episode.

Mama Pope (Khandi Alexander) is actually a terrorist. What lengths will OPA go to take her down? Diaz: Huck is ready to do whatever Olivia asks of him and his head is in a really strange place right now. He's still reeling from torturing Quinn and he's coming down from that high that he was feeling when he tortured her. They have to jump right back into work and figure out this Maya Pope situation.

What can you say about the tone of the midseason finale? Lowes: I like to think about this past week's episode and the midseason finale as a two-parter, so it picks up in the same vein as far as the pace and the intensity and how off-the-tracks the train is. It just has all of those classic, amazing Scandal cliff-hangers that leave people wanting more. It's a bunch of the storylines all coming to a head.